YukiOnna as told by Yokaichan
by yokai-chan125
Summary: My re-telling of the Japanese folktale "Yuki-Onna" set in modern times. If you don't know the original tale or any basics about Yuki-Onna please look these up. It will make my story make a lot more sense!


**Yuki-Onna**

**As told by Yokai-chan**

Eyes. _Green_ eyes. Green _terrifying_ eyes. Eyes that chilled his shaking body down to its very core and spelled disaster for his future…

***

Minokichi was the son of a single mother, the two of them making their home in a ratty suburb on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan's bustling capital. Minokichi had never had the best luck; although bright, his mother couldn't afford to send him to a good high school and he had had to settle for something far below what suited his abilities. It was a shame, but they made the best of things, Mino working though high school and then plunging straight into the workforce after his senior year. He took a job at a local lumberyard, owned by their middle-aged neighbor, Mosaku-san, and he was working his way into management. It was decent work and brought in enough cash to significantly supplement his mother's pay for her secretary job at another local business. Although not particularly well off, the two were happy.

And then came the storm and "The Accident," as it came to be called. It was late in the December of 1992 and the winter's snowfall had been relatively light all season, but that fateful night, the night of December 28th, the weathermen were issuing a blizzard warning. As the snow began to pile up and the wind accelerated in speed, Mosaku-san decided to shut down the lumberyard early. Only he and Minokichi hung around, tidying the inventory and throwing tarps over any exposed piles of stock to protect them from the cold and the moisture. And as they labored the sun set, the temperature plummeted, and the storm hit with full force. Although they both lived only about ten minutes away the driving snow and howling winds made the journey impossible by walking or in Mosaku's rusty old pickup truck. The two men decided to wait the storm out, taking refuge in the little store in the center of the yard, talking and drinking coffee to pass the time; the situation was actually rather enjoyable until the power went out…and the heat shut off.

Mosaku-san found a couple of old blankets in the store's storage cabinet, and they each curled up on the floor, resigned to the fact that they'd just have to wait until morning to return home, and although nippy, the little store was a reasonable shelter.

***

Minokichi woke up frigid, shaking wildly under his dust-scented blanket. He was about to blame the shack's age for its inability to retain heat when he noticed the door had blown open. No wonder the store was freezing! He, shivering, got up to close it, but as he rose he glanced over at his sleeping boss and nearly screamed. There was a third person in the store, a girl dressed in a white skirt and blouse, and more noticeably no coat or other winter wear. In fact, sandals adorned her feet. She was icy-white in the moonlight, ivory skin juxtaposed beautifully against cobalt hair and she was kneeling over Mosaku-san and…breathing on his face? Her breath was like white fog spilling from her mouth.

"Excuse me?" Minokichi managed to squeak out, completely confused and rather scared.

The girl said nothing but turned slowly towards Minokichi. In the dim light her blazing green eyes met his and Mino felt like an icy wind had surged against his body. He broke into a cold sweat; her eyes were terrifying, fixing him with a chilled, evil stare. This girl, whoever she was, _what_ever she was, meant business. She slowly rose and walked towards him, her wild glare still penetrating into his soul, sending his heart into a hammering flurry, and more sweat trickling down his scalp. Damn, this girl was frightening, but _damn_, she was beautiful too—in a urethral and otherworldly kind of way. Her Goth-like complexion was dazzling, raven's sheen again moon's shimmer, her body frame slim and tall, her perfectly-shaped, flawless face, the all-white, carefully-matched outfit befitting for a goddess. But this girl was no goddess—the malice in her expression revealed that—and she was coming for him, closer, closer, this girl with demon's eyes, this stunning apparition, she was coming with that milky smoke trickling from her perfect lips. She advanced until she stood about three feet from Minokichi, who stood, shaking but otherwise paralyzed, wondering if he should try to scream, try to talk, or try to get his frozen legs moving. Or just stay still.

"What's your name?" the apparition said, her voice silky.

"M-mino…Minokichi," he stuttered.

"Minokichi," she whispered back as if tasting the sounds. She looked up, focusing her powerful eyes on his face again. "You know, you don't have to panic like that. I'm not going to gonna hurt you."

"Y-you're not?"

"Nope, Mino-kun, 'cause you're a cutie, ya know that? And I don't like hurting cute boys." Her eyes' power fell a few notches and she grinned, revealing two pretty rows of straight, white teeth.

"Uhhh…OK. Thanks?"

Suddenly her eyes flamed lime again. "But if you ever, ever, _ever _tell _anyone_, even just _once_, about me or what you saw tonight, I will not be so kind. I will hunt you down andkill you, Minokichi-kun. I will _kill _you. Got that?"

"Yes ma'am!" he squeaked. He didn't doubt she would. Those crazy orbs said it all.

"Good." And she turned and walked away, slamming the door on her way out.

Minokichi slumped to the floor utterly spent. What the hell had just happened? Had that been real even? No, no, no, that was impossible, completely crazy, utterly insane. The only plausible explanation was that he was dreaming, maybe even half-asleep—because it felt so _real_—and had imagined the crazy young woman in white telling him he was good-looking and dishing out death threats. The door had simply blown open and closed again; that was it. His own overactive imagination had simply created everything else to give him a spook…even those terrible eyes…

He thought about calling over to Mosaku (in case the cold was bothering him…yeah!), but decided against it, assuming that his boss had probably slept through the entire ordeal (of the door…right!) and would probably not appreciate being awakened now. So, Minokichi, still quivering from his dream, or encounter, or whatever it was, once again curled up in a tight ball under his raggedy blanket and fitfully drifted to sleep.

***

Minokichi re-woke around six thirty in the morning when the very first rays of sunlight were weaseling their way into the little store through the frosty windows. He stretched, sat, at first confused as to where he was. Where the hell...? Then it all came flooding back in an instant: the storm, the less-than-satisfactory sleeping arrangements, the crazy…er, _dream_ he'd had when the door blew open.

It was hard to determine in the pale light through the frost-feathered window panes whether or not the snow had stopped, but the wind had ceased its vicious howl, so at least the blizzard was on its way out. Maybe the weather was even good enough to start digging out and get home to a nice, steaming bowl of miso at this point! Minokichi threw off his blanket, stood wearily and shuffled over to where his employer still lay curled in his makeshift bed.

"Mosaku-san," Minokichi whispered, "want to come with me and see if the weather's good enough now to start clearing out?" He paused for a few seconds and when his first question elicited no response, he tried again, this time in a louder rasping whisper: "Mosaku-san, want to see if the weather's better now? It's morning!"

Still no reply, not even a movement.

"Mosaku-san?" Minokichi said in his regular speaking voice and then a yell. "Mosaku-san? MOSAKU-SAN, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" He shook the older man's shoulder gently and was horrified to find that it was icy cold…cold enough to be… Minokichi hurriedly rolled his boss over and screamed when he saw Mosaku's frost-covered face. The man was clearly dead, chilled, frozen to the core… No! It couldn't be, it couldn't have been real, the girl with the chartreuse eyes and the smoky breath. It couldn't have been a…_yuki-onna_, a snow woman, an unearthly beautiful supernatural girl who froze innocents to feed on their life energy and sometimes their blood—a vampiric breed of female _yokai_, or demons... No…or, yes, perhaps? Minokichi's frenzied thoughts whirled as he stared, in shock, at Mosaku's icy body. It was really the only plausible way that a man could be killed and frozen through so fast if the physics of the thing were brought into consideration, and when it came to the supernatural, Minokichi had no idea if the laws of physics applied. So he'd dealt with a living, breathing, very _real_, _yuki-onna_. And he could never spill to anyone or he'd receive the popsicle treatment too. And that was possibly the most horrifying part.

***

The rescue had come quickly after Minokichi had forced his trembling fingers to dial the police; he thanked every deity he could call to mind that the phone lines had survived the storm. The rescue squad sent an ambulance for poor Mosaku although Minokichi had, stuttering, explained that his employer was beyond saving; the poor old man had been far less lucky than the telephone cables.

His mother had cried when she'd finally made her way to the scene, both out of joy at seeing her son alive and unharmed, and out of deep sorrow for the death of their neighbor. Although she and Mosaku had never been particularly close, it always comes as a shock when a 45-year-old man one's know since he was 40 is suddenly and expected torn from the mortal world. And in such a strange and tragic way no less.

Exposure leading to heart failure, the paramedics said when they examined the body. Yes, unusual for a person that age, but perhaps some underlying and unknown medical condition…?

But Minokichi knew otherwise.

***

It had been a year since The Accident and Minokichi had worked his way up to managing the lumberyard. Actually his advancement had come only a few months after the previous owner and manager's death when the voted-upon new manager decided to leave the yard for higher-paying employment. The ownership of the establishment still rested in the hands of Mosaku's family, but many of the business' executive decisions rested in the 20-year-old's hands. And unlike many youths his age, he was quite good at handling them.

He was bathing in the sweet joy of finally having a reasonably-paying job and a happy life when, on a particularly cold evening, he decided to pop into a local convenience store on his way home from work to warm up and buy a few things he needed. Instant ramen was always on the list considering his mom worked until eight and he couldn't cook. He walked over to the packaged foods aisle, shaking off the chill and the snow from his jacket. And that's when he saw the girl. Actually _young woman_ is a more apt description of the individual who stood scrutinizing a baggie of corn snacks about a meter away from Minokichi, for she was, as far as he could tell, about his age. She was eye-catching though, even standing morosely in the snack aisle holding a pack of corn puffs; it wasn't just that she was very pretty, but the sad, almost destitute look on her face caught his attention from the first moment he looked at her. She looked like she was in trouble.

"Hey," he started awkwardly, stepping a little closer to the lady.

She looked up, "Uh, hi."

"You OK?" Minokichi asked. He felt ridiculous; this was something he would normally never do…but those sad, pretty eyes…

"Uh, yeah…kind of…no," the girl admitted at last. "I'm kinda wondering what I'm gonna do tonight... Like, where I'm gonna sleep."

"Are you…homeless?" Minokichi asked softly, eyeing the coat that was way too nice to be worn by a street-dweller. This was way beyond awkward.

"Well, kind of. I just got evicted today and I've really got nowhere to go. I got laid off last month and couldn't find another job. So, yeah, I guess."

"No friends?"

"None around here that I can get to without a whole bunch of money," she said. "And still I don't want to freeload on them."

"You wanna come home with me? My mom can cook you something and you can sleep on our couch tonight and work things out in the morning." Minokichi could not believe what he'd just said. He didn't know whether to commend or slap himself.

"I don't want to impose…"

"No, no, it's fine!...I promise!" He decided he might as well keep going.

"Are you sure?" she asked meekly.

"Yeah," he said, feigning confidence. "What's your name?"

"O-Yuki," she said.

"That's a pretty name," he said as he plopped his ramen down near the register and began fishing around his pocket for coins. "I'm Minokichi, but you can call me Mino."

"OK, Mino-san. _Arigato gozaimasu_."

"No problem." He didn't know if she was thanking him for his hospitality or the fact that he'd just bought her corn snacks. Probably both.

***

Three years went by. O-Yuki got a new job within a month, but never left Minokichi's home. She was a great help around the house, added her income to the family total and was just a joy for everyone to be around. By the end of three years her unofficial status as a family member changed to official when she and Mino, deeply in love, wed. It seemed almost too good to be true.

Ten years went by. Minokichi's mother passed away from a heart condition. The still-loving couple now had three children—a daughter and two sons, and besides the untimely death of his mother, the world had been rosy for Minokichi; the lumberyard was thriving under his management, perhaps due in part to the fact that he always had such a wonderful home life to come back to every night. Around six o'clock the kids came home from daycare and school, O-Yuki from her job as a store clerk and he from the yard and everything was wonderful. All the stresses of the day seemed to melt away for all as they talked and laughed together over dinner and then later over tea or coffee in the living room. Yes, everything was truly wonderful.

One night, almost exactly eleven years after The Accident, Minokichi and O-Yuki were sitting at the kitchen table, he reading the paper and she completing a Sudoku puzzle. The lights were dimmed and the pair sat in soft silence; it was late and the kids were already in bed.

Then Minokichi spoke gently, "You look really beautiful tonight, Yu-chan."

She looked up from her numbers and boxes and smiled a half-smile. "Oh, come on, Mino, not now. I'm tired tonight."

"No, no, that's not it," he stammered. "I was just thinking of something that happened to me a long time ago…around this time of year actually."

"Really? What?" She was still skeptical that he was trying to initiate some sort of rambunctious romance.

"I was only nineteen and I had only been working at the lumberyard for about six months. I obviously wasn't the manager then—a man who used to be our neighbor named Mosaku-san was. One night, we were both working late and we got snowed in really bad. It was so windy and so cold we had to spend the night in the little shack you go to pay for your lumber. It wasn't so terrible at first, but then the power went out and the whole place got pretty cold, and so we found some blankets in the closet and went to sleep on the floor.

"And then—you're probably not going to believe this—there was this girl, or young woman I should say. She was really pretty and really pale, kind of like you—your beauty in the dim light tonight's what reminded me of her. But her eyes weren't like yours, they were terrifying—a terrible blazing green color. They were a demon's eyes. She killed Mosaku-san with frigid breath. And I am sure of what I say that night—I saw a _yuki-onna_."

O-Yuki, who had been sitting silent, stunned, through Mino's entire recount, jumped up suddenly, slamming her hands on the table and knocking her Sudoku to the floor. "NO!" she screamed. "No, you bastard, I told you never to tell!"

"W-wha…? Y-yu-chan! Calm down! Wh-Why?"

"Why am I so upset?" she finished for him, screaming relentlessly into his face. "WHY? Because _I'm_ that _yuki-onna_! I'm the one! And you broke your promise, you lying little bastard!" As she yelled her human form evaporated; her skin blanched to pure white, her eyes fired up to molten green. Icy cold seeped from her being, freezing her tears to her cheeks. "I loved you," Her voice her dropped to a whisper. "Minokichi, I _still_ love you, and that's why I'm going to spare you now. But I must also leave you, Mino, leave you forever, for now you know what I really am." And she turned her back to him and swept out of the room. She ran for the door, tears leaving miniature glaciers on her chalky face and had almost made it to the breezeway when she felt a hand on her back. "Mino, no…" But she turned to see not her husband but her oldest child, her sweet, worried, nine-year-old daughter.

"Kaasan?" the girl said and then stopped and froze when she saw her mother's true face. "K-kaasan?"

"I have to go," the yuki-onna said, turning to hide herself from her terrified daughter. "Miyo-chan I love you. I-I want you to always remember that. And if you ever desperately need me—if your life or true happiness depends on it—us this," she took off the small, silver bracelet she wore and slipped it onto her daughter's tiny wrist, "to find me. I will protect you, Miyo, and your brothers too. You are my children and always will be." And with this she opened the front door and breezed away.

"Kaasan…" Miyo breathed into the cold winter night, her breath foggy as the wind slowly shut the door. "I _will_ find you someday." Then she went upstairs to check on her shell-shocked father.

the end


End file.
